Damper adjusting device



Dec. 25, 1962 P. F. BRINEN 3,069,992

DAMPER ADJUSTING DEVICE Filed March 7, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR: PAUL F. BRINEN Dec. 25, 1962 P. F. BRINEN 3,069,992

DAMPER ADJUSTING DEVICE Filed March 7, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 5 FIG. 6

FIG. 7 8 4e 46 INVENTOR: PAUL F. BRINEN United States Patent Ofilice 3,069,992 Patented Dec. 25, 1962 3,069,992 DAMPER ADJUSTING DEVICE Paul F. Brinen, Racine, Wis., assignor to Young Radiator Company, Racine, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Mar. 7, 1960, Ser. No. 13,271 Claims. (Cl. 98106) This invention relates to adjusting devices for dampers on Convector-radiator cabinets.

Various devices have been developed and are in use for swinging hinged dampers on convector-radiator cabinets, between open and closed positions, for regulating the discharge of heat to the ambient air. Free standing cabinets have the grille in the vertically-disposed wall. Other cabinets have sloping tops in which the heat-deflecting grille is located. Some dampers have to be lifted whereas some have to be pushed, to change their positions. As a rule each type of cabinet requires its special type of damper-adjusting device. Some of the devices in current use have limitations that make them unsuitable for use with both types of convector-radiator cabinets.

The main objects of this invention are to provide an improved type of convector-r-adiator adjusting device; to provide an improved type of adjusting device adapted for use with either a lift or a push type of damper; to provide an improved form of damper adjusting device of this kind which, with the damper, may be installed in the cabinet at the factory, or with the damper, may be packaged and shipped for assembly in a cabinet at the time or after the cabinet is installed; to provide an improved damper adjusting device of this kind which may be assembled on the job, at the time or after initial installation of the cabinet, with the use of a very minimum of labor and use of the simplest household tools; and to provide a convector-radiator damper adjusting device of this kind which is so simple in construction as to make its manufacture very economical, its assembly extremely expeditious, and its use most facile and enduring.

In the damper-adjusting device shown in the accompanying drawings FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a stand-up type of convector-radiator cabinet for use with which has been designed a damper-adjusting device constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, front perspective View of a section of the cabinet shown in FIG. 1 on which has been mounted an improved damper-adjusting device constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a type of damper adapted for use with the convector-radiator cabinet shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective of the operative parts of a damper-adjusting device constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 4a is a cross-sectional view through the transverse median of the bearing bar shown in FIG. 4; a

FIG. 5 .is an enlarged perspective view of a section of the grille of the cabinet shown in FIG. 1 and indicating the first step preparatory to installing a damper and an improved adjusting device of this kind;

FIG. 6 is a similar view showing the second step preparatory for installing this improved form of damper adjusting device; I

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but showing the final step in fixing the journalling bracket to the grille of the cabinet shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a reverse view of what is shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective of a section of the damper shown in FIG. 3, indicating in dotted outline, the entering position of the end of the spiral spring into the camplate fixed on the damper; t

FIG. 10 is a reverse face view shown in FIG. 9, and

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary, sectional view showing how the damper of FIG. 3 is hinged in the cabinet.

The essential concept of this invention involves a helical spring acting as a screw journaled on a convectorradiator cabinet and embracing a cam-nut-like element on the cabinet-hinged damper whereby the opposite rotation of the spring eflects an opposite swinging of the damper.

A damper-adjusting device designed for use with convector-radiator cabinets 11, and embodying the foregoing concept, comprises a bracket 12, a damper cam nut plate 13 and rotatable spring 14.

The cabinet 11, as here shown, is a conventional, freestanding type. This is a metal stamping in which there is a cold-air cut-out opening 15 along the bottom of the front wall 16 and a louver grille section 17 disposed transversely across the upper portion of the front wall 16. Such front wall construction is practically the same for the semiand fully-recessed type of cabinets. However, free-standing cabinets also are made with the grille in a slanting top wall. Wall-hung cabinets, with the grille in the front wall or the slanting top wall, differ from the free-standing or recessed cabinets in the omission of the cut-out for the cold air opening. Such cabinets may or may not be equipped with dampers 18, depending on circumstances.

Dampers 18, when used with any of these various type of cabinet, are substantially of the form shown in FIG. 3. These are sheet metal stampings with the two lateral edges having rearwardly-extending flanges 19 disposed normally to the face of the damper, and an inclined flange 21 along the lower edge. Generally, there is a reinforcing strip 22 arranged along the top edge which may be either a separate strip or a bent-over, perimetrical portion of the damper.

The length of the damper would be determined by the horizontal dimension of the cabinet with which it was to be used. The damper shown in FIG. 3 mounts two or more hinges 23 which are insertable in slots in a depending internal flange 23' (FIG. 11) for swingably suspending the damper for movement toward and away from the grille section 17 for regulating the air-flow through the cabinet.

The hereinafter described, damper-adjusting device may be attached to any of the aforementioned types of cabinet for adjusting the position of the damper relative to the grille opening '17.

The bracket 12, which journals the spring 14, comprises a bearing bar 24, a pair of locking clamps 26 and a pair of screws 27, as most clearly shown in FIG. 4.

The bearing bar 24, as used in this particular adaptation, is formed of a pair of nested, perimetrical-flanged plates 24' and 24", as indicated in FIGS. 4 and 4a. It will be noted from the views of the bearing bar 24, shown in these figures, that the flanges 25 along the upper and lower edges of the plate 24 are at right angles to the plane of the plate, whereas the flanges along the edges of the plate 24" are inclined outwardly and nest in the flanges 25 of the plate 24'. Moreover, the flanges 25 along the top and bottom edges of the plate 24' are wider than the end flanges on that plate and these wider flanges, at their ends, are cut away at 25' flush with the edges of the end flanges on the plate 24' (see FIG. 4). The reason for this will be explained later.

Medially the plate 24. is upset to form a hub 28 with a central flanged bore 29. Inwardly of its ends the plate 24 is formed with apertured concave depressions 32 for the reception and seating of the screws 27.

The plate 24" is also formed with a central flanged bore 33 alined with the similar bore 29. The two flanged bores of the damper section 29 and 33 provide a bearing for journalling the stud 31 on the spring 14.

The locking clamps 26 function as nuts for the screws 27 to clamp the bearing bar 24 to the cabinet grille section 17, in a manner which will be pointed out more fully. Each such clamp 26 has integral flanges 34 along two opposite edges and a flange 35 along one transverse edge. When the screws 27 are inserted through the apertures 32 in the plate 24' and threaded into the clamps 26, the flanges 34 are wedged in against the flanges 25 on the bearing bar plate 24' with the flanges 35 abutting the inner face of the front wall 16 of the cabinet 11 (see FIG. 8).

The cam nut plate 13 here is shown as of rectangular piece centrally upset to form a cam element 36 for cooperative action with the spring 14- for effecting the opposite shifting of the damper 18 in the cabinet 11. At the corners of the cam plate 13 are integral cars 37 for securing the cam plate 13 to the damper 18.

The cam element 36 includes a hub 38 upset from one face of the plate 13 and a pair of opposed arcuate-shaped tapered upsets 39 and 40 formed circumferentially at one side of the hub 38. These latter upsets 39 and 40 provide an opening 41 disposed transversely of the plate 13 for the entry of the free end of the spring 14 to embrace the hub 28.

The spring 14 is formed from No. 35 (.106) music wire into a coil about outside diameter with approximately /8" pitch and in length approximately three inches. The wire spring of this nature is of such stability as to constitute a. screw, which, when rotated, is capable of exerting a force on the cam element 36 more than ample to push, pull and/ or lift the damper 18.

One extremity of the spring 14 is bent radially inwardly to seat in a slot in the end of the stud 31. The extremity of the other end of the spring 14 is bent radially outward to provide a stop 42 engageable with the cam plate 13 for limiting the inward or upward swing of the damper 18 away from the grille section 17 of the cabinet 11.

The stud 31 has a hub part 43 and a stem part 44. The hub part 43 is slotted to receive and clamp the radially disposed end of the spring 14. The stem part 44 extends through the alined flanged bores 29 and 33 (FIGS. 4 and 4a) in the bearing bar 24 to permit mounting the spring 14 for rotation. The stem part 43 is of a length to extend forwardly of the bearing bar 24 to permit the attachment of a hand knob 45 in any acceptable manner.

There are optionable times for attaching this improved damper adjusting device. It may be done at the factory, before the cabinet 11 is shipped, or subsequently during or after the installation of cabinets -11. In the latter case, the damper and the parts of the adjusting mechanism, hereinshown and described, are packaged as an auxiliary kit for shipment on order from one desiring to equip cabinets with such a heat control device. In either case the manner of installing the damper and this adjusting mechanism is the same.

The first operation for installing this damper adjusting device is to break out one louver in the grille section 17 and alter the angle of the next-above louver. Such a breaking out and bending of the louvers is required since, generally, all the cabinets 11 are produced with a complete grille section 17 as shown in FIG. 1. This is done for the reason that some cabinets will not have any type of damper installed, whereas others will have a different type of damper adjusting device than that herein shown. Making the grille section 17 complete, as shown in FIG. 1, permits standardization of production.

The manner of breaking out one louver and bending another, required for installing thistype of adjusting device, is illustrated in FIGS. and 6. With a pair of pliers the one louver can be twisted back and forth a few times to so fatigue the metal that the one louver will break off where it attaches the vertical divider strips 46. The louver above maybe bent up to a position 60 to the plane of the grille. This breakout of one louver and bending of the other forms a rectangular opening 47 (see FIG. 6) in the grille section 17 slightly smaller in its longitudinal and transverse dimensions than the comparable dimensions of the bearing bar 24.

Following the formation of this opening 47, the mounting of the adjusting mechanism proceeds as follows:

The bearing bar 24 is set over the opening 47, the screws 27 are inserted through the apertures 32 in the bar 24 and into the locking clamp 26. With a screw-driver (FIG. 7) the locking clamps 26 are drawn up firmly against the bar 24 and wedged in between the flanges on the bar 24 with the flanges 36 on these locking clamps 26 pressed against the inner faces of the louver divider strips 46 at opposite ends of the opening 47. This, also, draws the ends of the bearing bar 24 against the outer faces of these same louver divider strips 46.

The cam nut plate 13 is secured to the damper by inserting the ears 37 through slots 37' and bending them over on the opposite face of the damper 18. This being done, the spring 14 is so angled to the face of the damper 18 as to permit the shoulder 42 to be inserted into the opening 41 formed by the two oppositely arcuate upsets 39 and 40. Having thus inserted the spring shoulder 42 the spring 14 may be shifted into a position with its axis normal to the plane of the damper, whereupon the spring may be turned about its axis so that the spring will initiate its embrace of the cam-nut hub 38, as shown in FIG. 10.

With the spring 14 thus inserted in the cam plate 13, the damper 18 may have the clips 23 inserted through the slots conventionally arranged internally of the cabinet 11 for a swinging suspension of the damper. After such hanging of the damper 18, the stem part 44 of the stud 31 is inserted through the journalling hub 28 on the bearing bar 24. The hand knob 45 is then secured to the exposed end of the stud stem 44, whereupon the damper adjusting device is ready for use in altering the angle of the damper relative to the grille section 17 to regulate the heated air discharged therethrough.

The turning of the hand knob 45 effects the axial rotation of the spring 14. As the spring turns its movement through the offsets 39 and 40 and around the hub 38 on the nut plate 13 causes a swinging of the damper 18 toward and away from the grille section 17 of the cabinet 11. In such turning of the spring 14, the shoulder 42 so limits inward swinging of the damper 18 that the spring 14 may never become separated from the damper 18.

When such a damper and adjusting device are to be installed in a casing 11 at the time of setting in a cabinet, or some time after a cabinet has been set, the above-noted procedure is followed. If there is already a damper, similar to that shown in FIG. 3, installed in the cabinet 11, it would have to be removed and have a cam plate 13 attached thereto as shown in FIG. 3. This could be done by either forming slits 37 in the damper and drilling a hole for the hub 38 on the cam plate 13, or by drilling registering holes through the damper and the cam plate 38 and securing the latter in place by conventional screws.

The only tools required for this on-the-job installation are a pair of pliers, a screw-driver and possibly an Allen wrench or key. I

Variations and modifications in the details of structure and arrangement may be resorted to-within the spirit and coverage of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A damper-adjusting device for convector-radiator cabinets, the device comprising, a stable helical spring, a journal-bracket attachable to a cabinet, 25. plate attachable to a damper hinged in the cabinet and having a hub extending outwardly from one face of the plate, the plate having upset from the opposite faces thereof arcuateshaped portions concentrically contiguous to the periphery of the hub and extending in opposite circumferential directions from a circular opening in the plate disposed in a plane transverse to the plate, the upset plate portions forming a cam for the reception of the convolutionsof the spring so as to maintain the spring in embracive contact with the hub periphery and avoid binding of the spring and damper during rotation of the spring for effecting the swinging of the damper on its cabinet hinge, and means attachable to the spring for journalling on the bracket to effect the opposite rotation of the spring and cause the opposite swinging of a damper axially of the spring.

2. A damper-adjusting device for convector-radiator cabinets, the device comprising, a stable helical spring, a journal-bracket attachable to a cabinet, a plate attachable to a damper hinged in the cabinet and having a hub extending outwardly from one face of the plate, the plate also having upset from the opposite faces thereof arcuateshaped portions concentrically contiguous to the periphery of the hub and extending in opposite circumferential directions from a circular opening in the plate disposed in a plane transverse to the plate, the upset plate portions forming a cam for the reception of the convolutions of the spring so as to maintain the spring in embracive contact with the hub periphery and avoid binding of the spring and damper during rotation of the spring for effecting the swinging of the damper on its cabinet hinge, a stud fixed to one end of the spring and having a portion for journalling on the bracket, and a hand knob attachable to the stud for effecting the opposite rotation of the spring and securing it against axial shifting relative to the bracket during the opposite swinging of the damper axially of the spring.

3. A damper swingably mountable on a convectorradiator cabinet and having a hub extending outwardly from one face thereof, the damper also having upset for the opposite faces thereof arcuate-shaped portions concentrically contiguous to the periphery of the hub and extending in opposite circumferential directions from a circular opening in the damper disposed in a plane transverse to the damper, the upset damper portions forming a cam for the reception of the convolutions of the spring so as to maintain the spring in embracive contact with the hub periphery and avoid binding of the spring and damper during the rotation of the spring for effecting the swinging of the damper on its cabinet hinge, a bracket adapted for attachment to the cabinet and having a stud-journal extending transversely therethrough, a stable helical spring of an inner diameter substantially that of the external face of the damper hub and threadable through the damper opening embracively of the hub, a stud shaft attached to one end of the spring and rotatively positionable on the bracket journal, and a hand knob attachable to the stud ti end for rotating the same and securing it against axial shifting relative to the bracket.

4. A convector-radiator cabinet having a louver-grille section mounting a swinging damper, a journal-bracket secured to the grille section, the damper having a hub extending outwardly from one face thereof and also having upset from the opposite faces thereof arcuate-shaped portions concentrically contiguous to the periphery of the hub and extending in opposite circumferential directions from a circular opening in the damper disposed in a plane transverse to the damper, the upset damper portions forming a cam for the reception of the convolutions of the spring so as to maintain the spring in embracive contact with the hub periphery and avoid binding of the spring and damper during the rotation of the spring for effecting the swinging of the damper on its cabinet hinge, and means attached to the spring and journalling on the bracket to effect the opposite rotation of the spring and cause the opposite swinging of the damper axially of the spring.

5. A convector radiator cabinet having a louver-grille section mounting a swinging damper, a journal-bracket secured to the grille section, the damper having a hub extending outwardly from one face thereof and also having upset from the opposite faces thereof arcuate-shaped portions concentrically contiguous to the periphery of the hub and extending in opposite circumferential directions from a circular opening in the damper disposed in a plane transverse to the damper, the upset damper portions forming a cam for the reception of the convolutions of the spring so as to maintain the spring in embracive contact with the hub periphery and avoid binding of the spring and damper during the rotation of the spring for effecting the swinging of the damper on its cabinet hinge, a stud fixed to one end of the spring and journalled on the bracket, and a hand knob attached to the stud for effecting the opposite rotation of the spring and securing it against axial shifting on the bracket during the opposite swinging of the damper axially of the spring.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,063,645 Boles June 3, 1913 2,177,931 Pierson et al Oct. 31, 1939 2,471,980 Maynard et al. May 31, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 459,728 Canada Sept. 13, 1949 

